In Feb 2022, Australia’s Avass Group (a subsidiary of the DFT Group Pty Ltd) signed an agreement with the Saudi Government to manufacture lithium batteries and electric buses within Saudi Arabia. The group is headquartered in Melbourne and has a presence in India, Singapore, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.
The first two trains of LHM are expected to bring in an initial investment of $800 million. EVM Arabia has received a gas and power allocation equivalent to a daily standard amount of 6.24 million cu ft, which will be used for the first two processing trains in the Lithium Chemicals Plant.
As part of its plan to transform the mining sector into the third pillar of its national economy, Saudi Arabia is providing a range of incentives to attract investors, including the option of receiving up to 75% co-funding of capital expenditure through the Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF).
EVM intends to accelerate the exploration of critical minerals in Saudi Arabia in 2023 through its subsidiary RIWAQ Al Mawarid for mining to develop a localised Saudi supply chain for the Battery Chemicals Complex.
The energy sector is the backbone of the Saudi economy, with the country claiming to possess a quarter of the world’s proven oil reserves. Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest producer and exporter of oil and also has vast reserves of natural gas, which it uses as an environmentally friendly energy source for urban and industrial use.
In 2022, the Saudi government committed to purchasing up to 100,000 vehicles over a ten-year period from Lucid, with an initial commitment to purchase 50,000 vehicles and an option to purchase up to an additional 50,000 vehicles over the same period.